Swimming pool brush guide



p 24, 1958 M. c. GIBELLINA 3,402,413 r SWIMMING POOL BRUSH GUIDE Filed Dec. 11, .1967

INVENTOR.

MICHAEL C. GIBELILINA ATTORINEYS BY I 49W? M United States Patent 3,402,413 SWIMMING POOL BRUSH GUIDE Michael C. Gihellina, 8350 E. Cheery Lynn, Scottsdale, Ariz. 85251 Filed Dec. 11, 1967, Ser. No. 689,599 4 Claims. (Cl. -1.7)

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A device for attachment to the handle of a swimming pool brush and incorporating a plurality of surfaces for guiding the brush and providing force to urge the brush against the walls of a swimming pool.

The present invention pertains to swimming pool brushes, and, more particularly, to guides for attachment to such brushes to assist in the cleaning of a swimming pool wall.

It is well known that swimming pools accumulate dirt and debris adhering to the walls, including bottom, thereof. Customarily, this dirt is removed by brushing the walls with a brush connected to long handle. The brush is placed against the wall of the swimming pool and is pushed downwardly to force the adhering debris and dirt toward the drain located on the bottom of the pool. It is very difiicult, standing at the edge of the pool, to maintain sufficient force, vertical with respect to the pool wall, on the brush to insure that the bristles thereof intimately contact the wall surface and scrub adhering dirt therefrom. To remedy this difficulty, prior art devices have suggested the use of planes or wings attached to the brush or handle for exerting force against the brush as it is moved through the water.

Characteristically, these prior art solutions have resulted in very inefficient force-producing schemes. The utilization of a simple wing or surface provide force against the brush when the brush is urged in its downward stroke; however, at the bottom of the downward stroke, the operator must control the brush in its upward stroke with very little leverage since the brush handle has been extended into the pool a substantial length. When the brush is withdrawn, the wing or plane used to produce force on the brush causes the brush to swing wildly outwardly toward the center of the pool away from the wall. To overcome this ditrlculty, pivoted planes have been used which cause the plane to pivot when the direction of the brush is changed. The principal difliculty with such solutions is that the brush is forced against the well during its upward as well as downward stroke. The upward movement of the brush does not accomplish the purpose of the brushing the walls, viz., to move the dirt downwardly toward the drain in the bottom of the pool.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a swimming pool brush guide that will effectively hold the brush against the wall of a swimming pool during its downward stroke.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a swimming pool brush guide that will permit sufiicient force against the brush during its downward stroke and will nevertheless provide only sutiicient opposite force to render the brush easy to move in its upward stroke out of contact with the wall surface.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a swimming pool hrush guide that is capable of de-' veloping substantial brush pressure with minimum guide plane area.

These and other objects of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art as the description thereof proceeds.

Briefly, in accordance with the embodiment chosen for ice illustration, a brush guide is mounted above the brush and includes three surfaces. The first is a leading edge surface which provides initial guidance to the brush in its downward stroke. The leading edge surface extends from a guide surface which is the principal guiding surface for directing the brush and handle as it is moved. The third surface extends from the guide surface and, in the embodiment chosen for illustration, comprises a curved portion extending away from the handle and terminating in a position having a tangent approximately perpendicular to the brush handle. Sides extending perpendicular to both the guide surface and the force-producing surface connect the two surfaces to form a partial enclosure to prevent water spillage over the side edges of the guide.

The present invention may readily be described and its operation understood by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective exploded view of a swimming pool brush guide constructed in accordance with the teachings of the present invention.

FIGURE 2 is a sectional view of a swimming pool brush guide constructed in accordance with the teachings of the present invention.

Referring now to the drawings, a swimming pool brush 10 is shown secured to a handle 11 through the expediency of bolts 12 and 13 with their corresponding wing nuts 14 and 15. A bracket 20 is also secured to the brush-handle combination and supports the brush guide in a position above the handle 11. It may be noted that the bracket 2%) is arranged to support the guide 25 substantially above the handle 11 to obtain maximum benefit of the guide by freeing it of interference caused by the turbulence of the brush being pushed through the water. The guide 25 includes a guide surface positioned at a very slight angle relative to the handle 11. The guide surface 30 provides the principal guiding force as the brush is pushed through the water. It is important to note that the guide surface 30 does not produce the principal force against the brush for the cleaning action against the swimming pool wall; rather, this surface 30 is intended merely to guide the assembly and stabilize it. Extending toward the handle from the surface 30 is a leading edge surface 32. The leading edge surface 32 may be tapered at the front edge 33, and in the specific embodiment chosen for illustration, is notched at 34 to receive the mounting bracket 20 to prevent the guide 25 from rotating. The leading edge surface 32 provides initial contacting force as the brush begins its downward stroke. Further, the leading edge surface also provides lift as the brush is withdrawn upwardly from the pool.

The principal force exerted on the brush during its downward stroke is provided by a force surface which, in the embodiment chosen for illustration, comprises a smoothly curved extension of the surface 30 extending away from the handle 11. The surface 36 terminates so that a tangent thereto such as shown at 41 is nearly perpendicular to the handle 11. While the true perpendicular to the handle 11 is shown at 42, it has been found that by inclining the edge 45 as shown in FIGURE 2 the performance of the guide is improved; however, it is not necessary for the practice of the present invention that the edge 45 be extended as shown.

A pair of side surfaces and 51 extend substantially perpendicularly to the surfaces 30 and 40 and join the latter so as to form a partial enclosure. The surfaces 50 and 51 may be formed integrally with surfaces 30 and 40 as illustrated in the present embodiment or may conveniently be fabricated such as by stamping the surface 30 with extensions thereon and subsequently bending the extensions upwardly to form surfaces 50 and 51. The

guide 25 is secured to the bracket 20 in any convenient 3 ing 53 in the surface 30 and the opening 54 at the bracket 20. Since the notch 34 straddles the bracket 20, thus preventing relative turning motion between the bracket and the guide 25, the single bolt 52 will sutlice for securing the bracket and guide.

In operation, as the brush is lowered into the water in the 'vicinity of the side wall of a swimming pool, the leading edge surface 32 gently pushes the brush against the surface of the wall. As the brush is forced downwardly in the water, water passes over the guide surface 30 and encounters the upwardly extending surface 40. As a result of the surface 40, a downward thrust, as viewed in FIG- URE 2, is developed; the higher pressure caused by the water encountering the surface 40 tends to force the water transversely of the surface 30 around the outside edges of the surface 40. The side surfaces 50 and 51 inhibit this tendency of the water to escape around the edges of the force-producing surface 40, thus enhancing the efficiency with which the guide 25 produces a downward brushing force. The guide surface 30 acts as a support for both the leading edge as well as the forceproducing surface, a means for securing the guide to the bracket, and also provides a general guiding surface which adds to the brushing force during downward strokes. When the brush has reached the end of its downward stroke and is being withdrawn upwardly, the principal force-producing surface (surface 40) becomes ineffective and the bottom of the guide 25 (surfaces obviously paralleling surfaces 32, 30, and 49 but spaced therefrom by the thickness of the guide) acts as a lifting member to provide only slight lifting force to disengage the brush from the wall surface without causing the brush to deflect radically outwardly toward the center of the pool. It is usually desirable to stroke until the brush has also cleaned at least a portion of the bottom of the pool. As herein used, the term downward includes the motion of the brush along the bottom wall of the pool.

The extremely efiicient production of brushing force as well as the gentle brush lifting force on return strokes permit the swimming pool brush to be efliciently used with a minimum of exertion. It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that the specific cross-section of the guide member may be changed without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. It will also be obvious to those skilled in the art that the method of fabrication A. or selection of materials may widely vary, and it is therefore intended that the present invention be limited only by the scope of the claims appended hereto.

I claim:

1. In a swimming pool brush combination having a brush for cleaning the walls of a swimming pool and including a handle extending from said brush, the improvement of a brush guide comprising: a blade member mounted above said brush having a leading edge surface, a guide surface, and a force surface; said guide surface positioned at an angle with respect to said handle; said leading edge surface extending from said guide surface toward said handle at an angle with respect to said handle greater than the angle between said handle and said guide surface; and said force surface extending from said guide surface away from said handle at an angle with respect to said handle greater than the angle between said handle and said guide surface.

2. The combination set forth in claim 1 wherein said force surface is curved upwardly away from said handle and terminates having a tangent thereto approximately perpendicular to said handle.

3. The combination set forth in claim 1 including a pair of side surfaces joined to and extending perpendicularly from said guide and force surfaces to form a partial enclosure for inhibiting lateral fiow of water over said guide and force surfaces.

4. The combination set forth in claim 2 including a pair of side surfaces joined to and extending perpendicularly from said guide and force surfaces to form a partial enclosure for inhibiting lateral flow of water over said guide and force surfaces.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,003,168 11/1961 Shouldice l5l.7 3,037,233 6/1962 Pras et al. 15-25042 3,224,028 12/1965 Pras et al 15-250.42

FOREIGN PATENTS 584,029 1/ 1947 Great Britain. 1,068,216 11/1959 Germany.

PETER FELDMAN, Primary Examiner. 

